Cydia

How many Senators does it take to get a harmless Driver’s License app pulled from the App store? Apparently one.

The Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License (who knew such an organization existed?) used their formidable lobbying power to persuade Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania to write a letter to Apple requesting they remove the Diver's License app by Driversed.com from the App Store. Well it worked, and the app that once allowed users to create digital fake IDs is no more.

Driver’s Ed's app spent more than two years in the App Store without causing a hint of trouble. Below, the Coalition’s beef:

The "License" application by DriversEd.com for Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad allows users to electronically insert any digital photo and the biographic information of their choosing into a template for a driver's license of a state of their choosing. The "License" application contains templates for driver's licenses for all 50 states, many of which are of designs that will be valid for the next several years. The user is then able to send the high quality digital image of the completed template to an email account. From the email attachment, the image can then be printed and laminated, creating a high quality counterfeit driver's license difficult to discern from one that's genuine.

What Senator Casey reportedly included in his letter to Apple:

I believe this application poses a threat to public safety and national security…it can be used in a way that allows criminals to create a new identity, steal someone else's identity, or permit underage youth to purchase alcohol or tobacco illegally. National security systems depend on the trustworthiness of driver's licenses, yet with a counterfeit license created by the app, a terrorist could bypass identity verification by the Transportation Security Administration, or even apply for a passport.

As a former bouncer who earned $15 a pop for every fake ID I grabbed from the hands of some naive underage college student, I hope and pray that people actually use/used this App to make fake IDs. There is no way any bouncer, waitress, clerk, cashier or other person in a position to identify a fake ID would think a “printed and laminated” fake ID was real. The people who get duped by fake IDs most likely don’t give a flying Lindsay Lohan, and would sell minors alcohol, tobacco, and probably illicit drugs outside of the 7-11 they work at with or without an ID.

I have literally taken an ID away from a kid who tried to laminate on top of the ID a picture of what looked like Oddjob's head from Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64. Aside from that, even good fakes are easily identifiable to those who care to look. Fonts, background colors, and holograms are always off in some way, and even if the person has a proper second form a simple hand-writing test or questions about the individual’s “hometown” do the trick. Two girls with fake Ohio IDs couldn’t point out on Google Maps where their “hometown” in Ohio was.

Somehow, this seems like an underwhelming application to warrant Senate interference for the first time. The best fake IDs are real IDs from friends or family members who look like the individual in need of the ID. At that point the ID is real, the second form is usually real, and it is up to the bouncer or whoever to decide if the person on the ID is the person nervously waiting approval. Making this about national security seems laughable. I know the TSA is a joke, but If a terrorist uses an ID created from an iPhone application to bypass our attempts at securing our nation we need to seriously reevaluate who we're hiring to keep our country safe.

Idk,I see no harm in pulling it. Just another pointless app that has the added bonus of possibly being exploited. Just because you're good at identifying a fake id doesn't mean everyone is, or will go as far as pulling up a map and asking users 20 questions. also say for example you did not get paid a tip to grab fakes. What if simply your job depended on it. Would you want everyone in line to now have a fake ID?
-Luke

Idk,I see no harm in pulling it. Just another pointless app that has the added bonus of possibly being exploited. Just because you're good at identifying a fake id doesn't mean everyone is, or will go as far as pulling up a map and asking users 20 questions. also say for example you did not get paid a tip to grab fakes. What if simply your job depended on it. Would you want everyone in line to now have a fake ID?
-Luke

Completely understand that, but the App no where in its description informs or attempts to get users to try and create fake IDs. DriverEd, the company who made the app specializes in Driver's Education and promoting driver's safety. This is probably why it took two years for the App to get pulled. Now, if this was an app created for the explicitly defined purpose of creating and using fake IDs I'd have no problem with it being pulled. But, the App was created to let individuals without a drivers license see how their actual license might look.

I'm not too far removed from college (actually finishing up my masters), and my girlfriend is still in Nursing school, and I can say without a doubt that kids frequently pay upwards of $100 to have fake IDs made. These IDs are actual plastic, usually scan, but always have telltale signs they aren't real. If someone wanted to be a national security threat, you better believe they're going to have credentials better than laminated inkjet printoffs.

That said, I do understand that this app doesn't serve an essential service, but honestly how many apps do?

Lol. People and their pointless and funny apps. Guess they thought people would hit the print button. After making a fake dl. Just funny how the times changed. Technology went from stupid flip phones(motorola star tac) to phones doing outrageous things.

This is one of those issues that shows that common sense is dying in America. A fake license made with this program has an equal chance of passing inspection as a piece of cardboard with "Drivrs Licens" written on it in crayon.

The dumbest thing in the letter seems to be the senator's idea that this App is potentially the anti-public safety software aimed at world domination by means of creating a fake drivers license and/or passport. Oddly enough, the app doesn't say or illustrate anything having to do with passports. As far as licenses that may be used for years to come, hats off to the oldest form of identification that is technologically retarded. I have counted 37 of the mock licenses on the app that have currently been in use for nearly 22 years. That being said, you could download a blank pic from Google Images and crop in your picture for the same affect. Never mix business and politics. It turns government officials into ******s ... IMHO.

I'm sure this app was exploited and I'm sure that people fell for it. Many people have no idea of any fraud indicators of state licenses other than their own. Granted some laminated paper probably wouldn't get very far but maybe they know someone that works at a place that has legit ID card making things. Whatever.